Chef Klaus
Apfelmus
The apple-harvest preserve of the German kitchen, cooked low until the fruit collapses, then kept smooth, tart, and ready for potato pancakes or warm Mehlspeisen.
Culinary Explorer
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Spreewälder Gewürzgurken
Created by
Brandenburg's cucumber jar for the winter shelf: small gherkins salted first, packed with dill and horseradish leaf, then sealed in vinegar brine so the snap stays where it belongs.
Sauces & Condiments
German
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
45 min
Active Time
30 min cook•P14DT13H15M total
Yield4 x 500ml jars
Spreewälder Gewürzgurken belong to Brandenburg's wet, green Spreewald and to the late-summer preserving day, when cucumbers come in faster than you can eat them. I put them up for the cold shelf, then open them beside Abendbrot, the evening bread table, with rye, cold cuts, potato salad, or a Sunday roast that needs something sharp. This is the larder doing its work. Weggeworfen wird nichts, and a cucumber glut becomes winter.
Germany disagrees over cucumbers as seriously as it disagrees over dumplings. In the north you meet Salzgurken, salt-brined cucumbers soured by fermentation; in the south the vinegar jar often runs sweeter. The Spreewald's Gewürzgurke sits in its own place: small firm cucumbers, dill, mustard seed, onion, horseradish leaf, and a clean sweet-sour brine. Das ist kein Bierzelt.
The deciding technique is firming before sealing: salt first, then controlled heat. Salt pulls water from the cucumber and tightens the flesh, so the vinegar brine doesn't get thin and the pickle doesn't go slack. Pasteurize at 82 to 85C, not a wild boil, because a hard boil may close the lid but it cooks the crunch out. Erst verstehen, dann kochen.
Spreewälder Gurken come from the Spreewald, the canal-cut lowland south of Berlin around Lübbenau, Lübben, and Burg, where cucumber growing was established by the 18th century and jars moved into Berlin by boat, cart, and rail. The name Spreewälder Gurken was registered by the EU as a protected geographical indication in 1999, tying the pickle to Brandenburg's regional growing and processing tradition. The local family splits into Gewürzgurken in vinegar spice brine, Salzgurken in lactic salt brine, and Senfgurken peeled and cut with mustard seed, so the argument is not whether to pickle, but which jar belongs on the table.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small unwaxed pickling cucumbers
Quantity
1.5kg
6-9cm long
cold water
Quantity
1.5L
for salting
fine sea salt
Quantity
45g
for salting
white wine vinegar or distilled vinegar
Quantity
750ml
5% acidity
water
Quantity
750ml
sugar
Quantity
90g
fine sea salt
Quantity
30g
dill flower heads or dill sprigs
Quantity
4 flower heads or 8 sprigs
horseradish leaf
Quantity
4 small pieces
washed, or use unsprayed grape or sour cherry leaf
fresh horseradish root
Quantity
40g
peeled and sliced
medium onion
Quantity
1
thinly sliced
yellow mustard seed
Quantity
4 teaspoons
black peppercorns
Quantity
2 teaspoons
allspice berries
Quantity
8
bay leaves
Quantity
4
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small unwaxed pickling cucumbers6-9cm long | 1.5kg |
| cold waterfor salting | 1.5L |
| fine sea saltfor salting | 45g |
| white wine vinegar or distilled vinegar5% acidity | 750ml |
| water | 750ml |
| sugar | 90g |
| fine sea salt | 30g |
| dill flower heads or dill sprigs | 4 flower heads or 8 sprigs |
| horseradish leafwashed, or use unsprayed grape or sour cherry leaf | 4 small pieces |
| fresh horseradish rootpeeled and sliced | 40g |
| medium onionthinly sliced | 1 |
| yellow mustard seed | 4 teaspoons |
| black peppercorns | 2 teaspoons |
| allspice berries | 8 |
| bay leaves | 4 |
Equipment Needed
- •4 x 500ml preserving jars with new lids
- •Large preserving pot with rack
- •Kitchen thermometer
- •Jar lifter or clean tongs
- •Digital scale
Instructions
- 1
Sort the cucumbers
Choose small, hard, unwaxed pickling cucumbers, all close to the same size so they cure at the same pace. Scrub them well and trim a thin slice from the blossom end, the end opposite the stem; that end carries enzymes that soften pickles, and the jar remembers lazy knife work.
- 2
Salt them overnight
Dissolve 45g salt in 1.5L cold water, cover the cucumbers completely, and keep them cold for 8 to 12 hours. Salt pulls loose water out of the flesh and seasons the cucumber before the vinegar arrives, so the finished brine doesn't turn weak around a soft pickle. Drain, rinse briefly, and pat them dry.
- 3
Set up jars
Wash four 500ml preserving jars and new lids, then keep the jars hot until packing so the hot brine does not crack cold glass. Put one dill head, one piece of horseradish leaf, a few slices of horseradish root and onion, 1 teaspoon mustard seed, a pinch of peppercorns, 2 allspice berries, and 1 bay leaf into each jar. The leaf is not decoration; its tannin helps the cucumber keep its bite.
- 4
Pack the jars
Stand the cucumbers upright in the jars, tight enough that they stay under the brine but not so tight that you bruise them. Pack smaller cucumbers into the gaps. A loose jar floats and cures unevenly; a crushed cucumber gives up its crunch before the first week is over.
- 5
Boil the brine
Bring the vinegar, 750ml water, sugar, and 30g salt to a full boil and stir until clear. Use vinegar marked 5% acidity and do not weaken it, because the acid is the preservation, not a flavour suggestion. Pour the hot brine over the cucumbers, leaving 1cm headspace, then tap out air bubbles, wipe the rims, and close the jars.
- 6
Pasteurize gently
Set the jars on a rack in a preserving pot and cover them with water by 2.5cm. Hold the bath at 82 to 85C for 30 minutes, timing from when the water returns to that range. This controlled heat seals the jars and pasteurizes the acid brine without cooking the snap out of the cucumbers. If you cannot hold that temperature accurately, use a rolling boiling-water bath for 10 minutes and accept a softer pickle.
This low-temperature method is for cucumber pickles in a full-strength vinegar brine. Do not use it for weakened brine or mixed vegetables, and do not guess the temperature. - 7
Rest and store
Lift the jars out and leave them undisturbed for 12 hours, then check that the lids have sealed. Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place for at least 2 weeks before opening, because the first days taste like vinegar and spices sitting beside a cucumber, not inside it. Das braucht seine Zeit. Refrigerate any unsealed jar and eat it within 4 weeks.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the cucumbers the day you pickle if you can. A tired cucumber already lost water, and no spice mix will put that snap back.
- •Use small pickling cucumbers, not long salad cucumbers. Salad cucumbers have too much seed and water; those belong sliced fresh, not packed whole for the shelf.
- •Trim the blossom end. It is one cut, and it removes the enzyme that makes many homemade pickles go soft. Do the small work.
- •Horseradish leaf is right for the Spreewald style. If you cannot get it, an unsprayed grape leaf or sour cherry leaf gives the tannin you need, though the flavour changes.
- •Serve these with rye bread, liverwurst, potato salad, fried potatoes, or a cold supper board. The pickle is there to cut fat and wake up starch.
Advance Preparation
- •Salt the cucumbers 8 to 12 hours before packing; longer than that and they start to taste flat and overly seasoned.
- •Let the sealed jars rest at least 2 weeks before opening. Four weeks is better, because the dill, mustard seed, and horseradish settle into the cucumber instead of sitting only in the brine.
- •Sealed jars keep up to 1 year in a cool, dark place. Once opened, refrigerate and eat within 4 weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 500g)
Calories
175 calories
Total Fat
2 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
1 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
6900 mg
Total Carbohydrates
37 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
27 g
Protein
4 g
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